Many devices are able to receive multimedia content over a network and provide the multimedia content to users of the devices. For example, smartphones, tablet computers, portable computers, and other client devices can receive multimedia content over wireless networks and present the multimedia content to users. In this document, “multimedia content” includes audio-only content, video-only content, and audio and video content.
State-of-the-art video streaming over hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) technology enables dynamic adaptive delivery of multimedia content. This technology allows different client devices to receive different versions of the same multimedia content. A server can provide a list of available versions of multimedia content to the client devices, and each client device can select one of the versions for retrieval and presentation.
Generally, each version of the same multimedia content provided by a server has a different configuration of encoding parameters, resulting in different bitrates. Example encoding parameters can include compression ratios for audio or video content, spatial resolutions for multimedia content, and temporal resolutions for multimedia content. The list of versions can also include various audio versions and texts associated with different languages. Each client device typically selects one or more of the available versions according to the client device's capabilities and network conditions. During delivery, a client device can also seamlessly change from one version to another version, such as when the client device detects a change in network conditions.